For centuries, humanity has dreamed of stopping the clock. From the legends of the fountain of eternal youth to the Hungarian Countess Bathory, the myth of prolonging life has spanned cultures and centuries. Today, that promise is no longer spilled in blood or written in stories: it is negotiated in offices with investment funds.
Biotechnology in the era of anti-aging. A company founded in California, Altos Labs, leads a new generation from companies that aspire to turn aging into another medical problem. The company has brought together elite scientists to develop partial cell reprogramming experiments, with the goal of reversing diseases and restoring tissues. In the words of its executive directorHal Barron: “The cell is capable of compensating for damage, and if we could recover that capacity, we would be buffering stress.”
Although Altos is not the only one. Retro Biosciences has raised 1 billion dollars —with the participation of investor Sam Altman— for trials of drugs that can rejuvenate brain and blood cells. NewLimit, co-founded by Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), got another 130 millionand Cambrian Biopharma added 100 million more in 2021. The interest is clear: longevity has gone from speculative science to an industry with massive capital and the promise of profitability.
From scientific utopia to business model. For decades, aging was considered inevitable. Today it is a technological and financial challenge. At a conference on aging in Copenhagen —to which the Financial Times had access— executives at Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, creators of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic or Wegovy, defined them for the first time as “longevity drugs.”
The semantic change reflects a cultural and economic shift: longevity stops being a fantasy and becomes a market. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute on Aging at Albert Einstein College, he explained it like this: “To say that we don’t have drugs that reduce mortality is incorrect. We are successful; we just need to do better.”
While scientists measure telomeres, technologists dream of exponential curves. The futurist Ray Kurzweil maintains that we will achieve the “longevity escape velocity” in 2029, the point at which life expectancy will increase faster than we age. What was once science fiction is now listed on the stock market.
The business of beating time. The race to live longer is not just scientific: it is financial. How the Financial Times has had accessfunds allocated to longevity research now exceed $5 billion in the last three years. Investors like Jeff Bezos, Yuri Milner or Peter Thiel they have bet by biotechnology startups that promise to extend human life.
In fact, Thiel has funded Unity Biotechnologyfocused on eliminating senescent cells, and Bezos, together with Milner, directly promotes Altos Labs. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, has invested more than 430 million in anti-aging therapies and created the Ellison Medical Foundation.
The risk is obvious. Enthusiasm could inflate a bubble. Primetime Partners Co-Founder Abby Miller Levy warned that “Money attracts talent, but not all companies deserve so much funding.” And as capital flows, the ethical question also grows: live longer or live better? Scientist Mehmood Khan, director of the Saudi foundation Hevolution, puts it this way: “People don’t want to live longer; they want to live healthy as long as possible.”
Not everything that ages can be reversed. In July, Unity Biotechnology was delisted from Nasdaq after failing trials to eliminate senescent cells, a reminder of how far we are from “curing” aging. Still, progress exists: Northwestern University researchers have developed a biomaterial capable of regenerating high-quality articular cartilage, an achievement that until recently sounded like science fiction. This type of medical innovation—quiet, tangible—contrasts with promises of total immortality.
The emotional root. Behind genetic engineering and million-dollar facelifts there is something more primitive: the fear of disappearing. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, confessed that “Death has never made sense to me.” His investment in biotechnology was born after the death of his adoptive mother from cancer. For his part, Peter Thiel has said that he considers aging “an enemy that can be defeated with enough money and knowledge.”
But the fear of dying It’s not just personal: It is also cultural, even political. During a military parade in Beijing, an open microphone caught a conversation between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin about “achieving immortality.” Far from the anecdote, the scene shows how the body has become a form of power. In this century, the body is not only biology: it is also ideology, territory and a symbol of control. While governments seek immortality for their regimes, individuals pursue it for themselves. Altos Labs scientists They study how cells They lose their resilience with age. Deep down, it is the same spiritual logic as always: restoring the lost balance, rewriting destiny.
Science versus myth. In a world saturated with anti-aging promises, distinguishing between science and marketing is essential. In Financial Times describe that no regulatory body —not even the FDA—recognizes aging as a disease, which prevents the approval of drugs whose goal is directly to “rejuvenate.” That is why many biotech companies focus on specific pathologies, such as diabetes or Alzheimer’s.
Scientist Michael N. Hall, pioneer in the study of cellular aging, I explained it like this: “I do not and would not take anti-aging medications. Eating in moderation is enough.” Calorie restriction, he says, activates the same mechanisms as some experimental drugs. At the opposite extreme, billionaire Bryan Johnson spends two million dollars a year in plasma transfusions and supplement. Between both extremes—the avant-garde laboratory and the almost esoteric ritual—the frontier of longevity moves today.
The gender of youth. While powerful men finance laboratories, famous women they finance operating rooms. However, there is a paradox that runs through this entire market of eternal youth. When they try to stop aging, they are celebrated as visionaries. When they do, they are accused of being superficial. The same media that glorify Jeff Bezos or Larry Ellison for investing millions in biotechnology to “defeat time” scrutinize every wrinkle, filler or lift of the actresses who, for decades, have lived under the constant pressure of not aging.
In body culture, eternal male youth is presented as scientific ambition; the feminine, like aesthetic obsession. The result is a double condemnation: women are always targeted, both for having surgery and for not doing so. And it is true that we are facing a status situation as for cosmetic surgery, but it hides an asymmetrical requirement: they can defy biology and be admired for their audacity; they can only defy the mirror, and pay the price of public criticism.
The paradox of living forever. The new longevity industry is advancing as fast as its promises. From Silicon Valley to Moscow, from the operating rooms of Beverly Hills to the laboratories of Copenhagen, human beings once again face their oldest limits.
But the 120-year horizon can hide a mirage: a longer life is not always a better or fairer life. In the words of the Financial Times: “Longevity is not the need of the market, but prolonged health.” Perhaps the future is not to defeat death, but to learn to live longer without worshiping it. Eternal youth, like almost everything in the 21st century, has ceased to be a myth and has become a business model.
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